Does this happen to you? Like a lot of things, I put this blog down for a minute a while ago and it’s been hard coming back around to pick it up again. A lot of the info on throughthewalls.org right now is out of date. I have my own health issues I”m wrestling with but I’m not sure if that’s the problem. It’s hard to keep anything in perspective.

While it didn’t destroy my immediate surroundings or jeopardize my life, Hurricane Sandy rattled me, as it rattled a lot of people in the NYC/NJ area. My priorities and outlook have shifted. I’ve done some relief work and some donating but not much– not nearly enough. I have lots to say about it and now that I’m finally in the blogger machine again, I don’t know where to start.

source: wpix.com

The whole business of the elections distracting from real-life politics has never been so stark to me as it was just now– with pockets of NYC and NJ surviving ongoing inequality compounded by ongoing disaster and everybody chattering about the elections. Some people are still chattering about the elections, bursting with pride and celebration over the man who signed the NDAA into law and may keep more people in cages than anyone on the planet.

It’s crazy how parts of NYC are almost totally fine, almost totally back to normal, while other neighborhoods are living in the cold and the dark without water, sometimes with health needs and trapped in apartments or displaced by desolation. The establishment and the rich seem to be counting on the fact that if enough time goes by, people with privilege will lose interest in the disaster and let it go out of sight and out of mind. This is the way oppression, disaster, and inequality persist in the first place. This is how things really are all the time. Crisis and disaster and everyone walking around and many not immediately threatened pretending everything is fine.

This is how it often feels to read about Gaza and that’s particularly true now.

“A family rests on the rubble of their home in Jebaliya.”source: time.com

And yet everyday life has to be lived. Jobs have to be worked, sometimes, for now, health has to be tended to, when possible, and the causes I normally work for still exist and still matter.

Most people don’t follow me for news. If you’re up on things, there are better sources. Mostly I connect dots or maybe provide a perspective in a bigger conversation. But on a few specific things, I occasionally bring you news. And I gotta update it. So stay tuned while I catch up. May take a sec.

Kersplebedeb
“ . . . Its also a pretty sprawling site, with pages on key political fronts ranging from Palestine to Transgender Liberation, from Iraq to political prisoners’ struggles in the United States . . . “

Moorbey'z Blog
“From a Nu-Afrikan perspective, RBG 4Lif.. Red For The Blood That We Have Shed In The Freedom Struggle Black Is For Our People & The Origin Of All Things In The Universe Green Is For Mother Afrika & The Rebirth Of Life And For Our Children”

Resistance Behind Bars
“The Struggles of Incarcerated Women” — blog related to the ground-breaking book by Victoria Law

Donate

Donate to the Warchest Program
from ABCF, “designed to send monthly checks to those Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War who have been receiving insufficient, little, or no financial support during their imprisonment. “

Individual PP Support

Cece McDonald
RELEASED FROM PRISON !!!! – 1/13/14- Woman imprisoned in a male prison for alleged self defense against a racist, transphobic, and sexist attack.

Herman Bell
Former Black Panther, NY-state political prisoner, community organizer

Jerry Resists
RELEASED FROM FEDERAL JAIL!!! 1/28/13 – Gerald “Jerry” Koch, a New York City anarchist and legal activist imprisoned in new york city for refusing to cooperate with a nefarious grand jury targeting anarchists.

News

Denver Anarchist Black Cross Blog
“The Denver Anarchist Black Cross exists to contribute to the defense of social movements, both internally and externally, working against oppression and for self determination.”

South Brooklyn ABCF
” We are the South Brooklyn chapter of the Anarchist Black Cross Federation. We stand in solidarity with political prisoners and prisoners of war worldwide.”

Publications

4strugglemag
“Views, Thoughts, and Analysis from the Hearts and Minds of North American Political Prisoners and Friends”

Resources

Aftershock
[book] Confronting Trauma in a Violent World: A Guide for Activists and Their Allies by pattrice jones * Lantern Books

Certain Days
Click above to order the 2014 Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar now!

Combat Liberalism
Despite my strong opposition to mao, maoism, and authoritarian communism, I have come to find this text very useful as a guide to combating bad tendencies in leftist organization, formal and informal. Find/replace the word “communist” with “anarchist.”

Support New York
“Support New York is a collective dedicated to healing the effects of sexual assault and abuse. Our aim is to meet the needs of the survivor, to hold accountable those who have perpetrated harm, and to maintain a larger dialogue within the community abo